Who is this 'Beckham' you speak of ?

[gobbledonk]

Except for the soccer faithful and Spice Girls fans, most Aussies were blissfully unaware of the extent of the Beckham phenomenon prior to the World Cup. Harry Kewell was THE name when people raised the subject of football in my neck of the woods, although I'm sure serious sports fans may disagree with me (Viduka ?).

 

Now, the Oz media cant get enough of Becks, and the recent kidnap plot has only raised his profile here. I'm sure he'd be happier without the latest coverage, but his star could hardly shine any brighter on the world stage.

 

Anyway, there is a point to this rant, gentle reader. One of the reasons I have pursued a relationship with a woman in Guanxi is that I felt that she would have a different perspective on life and a different set of cultural icons. You can imagine my dismay when we were chatting online last night and she professed her admiration for another 'white boy'. Oh, and which one might that be, my love ? 'Bankham !'.

 

With that delightful Freudian slip out of the way, she proceeded to assure me that her admiration for Becks must remain a purely chaste affair, given our plans to marry, and I responded that Gong Li was also unlikely to respond to my letters anytime soon.

 

I am currently en route to the Amazon, in search of someone who has never heard of David bloody Beckham !

[Steve]

While talking to some Thai girls on ICQ during the World Cup I realized that they were all glory hunters also, who claim devoted love for Beckham. Almost to a person they were cheering Argentina (the favourites) and wanted to marry Becks or Owen.

Its the 'in thing' with lots of these women in and around Asia. They read western magazines and fall in love with whomever falang women deem the epitome of western manlihood.

 

Do what I do, where a Beckham mask when you bed them. ::

[sayjann]

on one of my trips to phuket,i frequented a go-go and became good friends with one of the waitresses.

she did'nt go with men,just worked for her baht.

 

anyway,one night i walked in the bar wearing my Utd polo shirt.

she sat with me and recognised the badge and told me she was Beckham's secret wife.

he married her before he met young Vicky and they had a child.

it had to be a secret between us,the child was being looked after all the time she worked.

 

nice fantasy and i played along.

[gobbledonk]

sayjann,

 

I suspect that CS is spot-on when he points out that Asian women are heavily influenced by the Western ideal of 'man I'd most like to be with', at least that which is doled out by the machine that is the woman's magazine industry. Amazing how many cosmetics and tampons you can sell if you can convince an entire generation of women that David ( or Brad, or Matt or ...) represents the ideal man, and that buying your magazine will put them that much closer to their wet dreams. We have softcore versions of 'Penthouse' here which seek to exploit young guys in the same way (beer and aftershave replace cosmetics etc), but their circulations pale into insignificance alongside the womens mags.

 

Getting back to your friend, its amazing how rich the fantasy lives of many Asian women are, and I believe this is a defense mechanism against the harshness of their realities. I suspect that raising a child on the income from working in a bar (minus the barfines and 'tips'...) is not an easy thing to do, and imagining that Becks is the father probably makes it a little less tedious.

[sayjann]

maybe